Which operating system function is responsible for scheduling tasks?

The function responsible for scheduling tasks in an operating system is process management. This function is crucial because it involves the coordination of the execution of processes, ensuring that the CPU is utilized efficiently by assigning it to various tasks based on their priority, resource requirements, and scheduling algorithms.

Process management oversees the creation, scheduling, and termination of processes. It ensures that each process gets its fair share of CPU time and handles the transition of processes between different states (such as running, waiting, and ready). Task scheduling is a pivotal part of this management, as it determines the order in which processes are executed and how long they will run, ultimately impacting the overall performance and responsiveness of the system.

Other functions like file management, device management, and memory management, while essential to the operating system, serve different purposes. File management deals with the organization and manipulation of files, device management focuses on managing hardware devices and their interactions, and memory management is concerned with the allocation and deallocation of memory to processes. Each of these functions contributes to the overall operation of the system but does not directly involve the scheduling of tasks as process management does.